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Giada De Laurentiis plans new Las Vegas restaurant for Caesars Palace

Giada De Laurentiis will open her second Las Vegas restaurant — this one at Caesars Palace — early next year. It will be a quick-serve concept called Pronto by Giada, located in the space now occupied by Payard Patisserie & Bistro. While it will be more much casual than the celebrity chef’s eponymous fine-dining space at The Cromwell, it will focus on similar California-influenced Italian cuisine.

Pronto will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. Seating will be limited, as the focus will be to-go orders. The menu will feature house-made pastries, breakfast sandwiches, paninis, salads, sandwiches, antipasti, charcuterie, gelato and desserts, many of which will be familiar to fans of her cookbooks or TV shows. There will also be a full service bar, wine on tap and an artisanal coffee program with nitro options and foam art.

De Laurentiis says offering a low-priced option to her fans is important.

“I have a big group of fans who, this is a big deal for them to come here,” she explained, during an interview at her Cromwell restaurant. “It means saving a lot of money to come here. And I have been here on many occasions where people just walk in and say ‘Oh, we just wanted to see the place — we’ve heard so much about it. We can’t afford to have dinner here, but we’d love to check it out.’”

“And that sort of breaks my heart a little bit,” she continued. “Because my whole point of doing what I’m doing is to introduce my type of Italian food to as many people as possible. So the ability to introduce people to my food … at a grab-and-go, I think will open up my brand, my name and my food to a whole group of people who maybe never thought they could (try it).”

No opening date has been set for the spot, which De Laurentiis said would undergo a major renovation.